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(The Wall Street Journal) First impressions count. And despite facing its biggest crisis since World War II, according to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, it seems English-speaking Twitter users retained a more or less balanced view of Japan following the March 11 disasters and their worrying aftermath at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

A survey commissioned by the U.S.-Japan Council (USJC), a non-profit educational organization, has classified some 41% of English-language tweets containing the word “Japan” between March 11 and May 18 as positive in terms of expressing sympathy and respect for the Japanese, based on language used. Of the...

(KPCC) Three Southern California public radio stations -- Southern California Public Radio KPCC 89.3-FM, KCRW 89.9-FM and KUSC 91.5-FM -- will go on-air Friday through Sunday to raise money to support earthquake and tsunami relief efforts in Japan by partnering with the California Community Foundation and the U.S.-Japan Council.

The fundraiser comes in response to a call from the Los Angeles community, including the large Japanese and Japanese American community, to support friends, family and colleagues in Japan.

(The Washington Post) The Facebook status update was all Katherine Grossman of Capitol Hill had to rely on to know that her good friend, an English teacher in Sendai, Japan, was safe after Friday's devastating 8.9-magnitude earthquake.

"The first thing she posted was that she was in the auditorium and the principal was giving a boring speech when it happened," said Grossman, 28, who was in Sendai as a translator from 2004 to 2007. "The electricity was out and her computer was broken, and everything in her apartment was all over the place. She's cold, and people were...